Chapter 11
The night was cold and the air was still. The scuttling of rats was the only sound which penetrated the night. Beside a warehouse, a lone guard yawned and stretched. He hated doing the night shift, but it was 'for the cause' and all that.
He looked around the deserted area and scratched his head, his fox ears twitched, listening intently. He heard and saw nothing so he reached down to his bag, hidden under the desk of his little guardhouse.
The latest edition of X-ray and Vav. He'd already read it a dozen times that night but it was better than staring aimlessly into the darkness.
He was halfway through when he heard something. He bolted up and looked into the deep and dark night. Suddenly, glass shattered as a trio of figures jumped from a nearby building into the warehouse. He turned to look and instantly regretted it when he heard gunshots.
He turned back and a streak of gold came racing towards him. He had a split second to act. So he reached for the button under the desk. A fist slammed into his face and sent him to the ground, the alarm remained silent.
And the guard lost consciousness.
"Adam! On your right!" Ruby shouted at him as she rushed in between the tall shelves and crashed through several White Fang members.
"I have them!" He rushed to the right, drawing Wilt and cutting through each bullet that came his way. They're trying to surround me. He noted. The White Fang moved into position, they crossed their lines of fire so he was unable to easily block or evade their shots.
Too bad for them he knew how to counter it.
He opened fire with Blush, forcing the ones in front of him to take cover. He rushed them and sheathed his crimson blade, baiting them to leave cover and attack him again.
He fired Blush, sending his sword crashing hilt first into the masked face of a grunt. He leapt on a nearby shelf and kicked off to send himself high above the grunts. He grabbed his blade in mid-air and slashed out with it. It cut into several of his enemies he landed.
He turned as they crumpled to the ground in pain. He blocked an incoming sword strike and fired Blush into the man's stomach. He screamed as his Aura shattered.
Weak.
A kick to the throat sent the man to the ground in pain. Adam turned and cut through several more bullets that came his way, slowly, he advanced. He lashed out, cutting his opponent's gun in half before slashing into the man's leg, sending him to one knee. Blush slammed into the man's mask. Adam took satisfaction from the way it cracked.
The few that remained were running. Cowards… He took a breath and sheathed his blade for a moment, he surveyed the battlefield.
Yang had entered through the main door after dealing with the guard outside. She smashed through their defences with ease. Ruby was dashing from goon to goon, taking them down without much resistance. Weiss used her Glyphs to cluster several of them together before taking them down with her blade.
It was going well, as all of their little outings had.
Gunfire rained down upon them from the catwalks. Several White Fang, including a man with a full face mask, had taken position and were using the high ground to full effect. Adam took cover behind some crates. How to get up there?
"Schnee! Stairway!" He yelled out. Weiss glanced over from her own cover and nodded, taking a moment to focus. A series of glowing white platforms appeared next to Adam, leading all the way up to the catwalk
He jumped on the first and sprang from platform to platform, swinging Wilt to block the bullets that were sent his way. Before he would have hated using her Semblance to get to his target, but now?
They were a team, and she wasn't her father.
He jumped into the middle of the White Fang and started slashing. One fell as he parried and counter attacked. Another when he blocked and fired Blush. He threw one into another, sending them over the railing. Soon it was just him and the man with the full mask.
"So the traitor goes on the offensive." The man said, his gun transforming into a longsword. "I might even be promoted for bringing back your head!"
A lieutenant. I don't remember this one. Did Blake change them up just so I didn't know who would be in charge?
Adam parried the man's blade and slashing down across his chest, Wilt trailing flame the entire time. The lieutenant grunted as he dodged backwards which caused Wilt to only get a glancing blow. Once he recovered, the lieutenant rushed back in, as he tried to take the initiative.
He fainted low and then high before slashing from the left. Adam barely blocked it but the weight behind it jarred his body and took a good chunk of his aura. Adam cursed internally before shoving his foe's blade away and stepping back.
The lieutenant was talented, that was for sure. If only he had had more training. Adam didn't have the time to mess around, however. Wilt was sheathed a moment later. The sword began to glow as he gathered the stored energy.
Keep it low powered. We don't want any deaths today! The man charged him, swinging his sword in from above, going for Adam's head.
Moonslice…
Red filled Adam's vision, the world diluting to just black and red. The man screamed as his Aura shattered, dark green fragments of light flying everywhere, joined by pieces of his weapon.
Adam planted his foot on the man's stomach and pushed. The man only continued to scream, blood running from the open wound on his chest. Adam raised his blade, blood dripping from the end.
He plunged the crimson red blade down.
"Adam!" Yang growled from next to him, her hand gripping his wrist tightly. He froze. He had almost…
He gulped and sheathed Wilt. The Faunus under him groaned and cried. Adam stepped back and took in a deep breath. "I… I need some fresh air. Is everyone else done?"
"Yeah, the place is clear. Ruby is calling the police as we speak." He nodded and left them to it.
He needed to take a break.
Weiss sighed as she closed another of the crates. All were filled with Dust. Crystals, bullets, powders and more. All kinds too. From Burn and Frost to Gravity and even Combustion. What the White Fang wanted with so much Dust was a mystery.
One she intended to figure out.
She was grateful to Adam for directing them to these old safe houses. I guess they couldn't just abandon all of the ones he knew about. It must be difficult to even set one up in the first place.
She still didn't know what to think about him though. She had forgiven him at the docks weeks ago, but that didn't change her feelings. He had done a lot to her family and company, even if she didn't know what he had done specifically.
But what was she supposed to do? Throw him to the police and tear her team apart? Ruin the only friendships she ever had? She didn't exactly trust him, but unless he broke the law and irreparably damaged his relationship with Ruby and Yang, there wasn't much she could do without ruining what she cared about.
So she had to put up with him. It wasn't like she hadn't been before of course. She had known he hated her and still given him a chance to prove he wanted to be a Huntsman. Did it really change much knowing that he had been a part of something horrible?
It did and it didn't. Ugh. When did things get so complicated? I thought I was leaving this stuff behind in Atlas. Well, as long as Father doesn't hear about it I should be able to stay.
She really didn't want to return to Atlas yet. She was enjoying her time in Beacon and with her team, outside of Adam of course.
Weiss sighed once again. She needed to focus on the now. Let's see if they've left anything that could help us.
"So how was the mission last night?" Pyrrha asked as they cooled down after another spar. Adam stretched and thought of the right words.
"It went... Well, all things considered. We didn't find any leads but the Police took more of the Dust back."
"Let's hope they can keep it this time." Jaune said before burying his face in a towel in an attempt to get rid of his sweat. Adam hummed in agreement.
"So when are you heading back out?" Pyrrha asked after downing some water.
"Next weekend. With classes starting up again in a couple of days the Schnee demanded that we use the week to study up. It's a bit of a pain." He said without any real annoyance.
"You guys have been going out pretty regularly since the docks. You must have been quite high up in order to know so much." Adam hesitated before he nodded to confirm her suspicions. He had been a bit reluctant to tell team JNPR about his past but his own team had insisted. The two teams had gotten closer because of it as far as he could tell.
It was still strange having so many humans both know about his past and still accept him despite it. I wonder, is there anything wrong with them mentally? He idly thought. He'd seen plenty of people break but this was something he had never seen before.
He didn't try hard to understand it. They wanted him around, despite his mistakes, so he stayed.
Adam took a swig of his water bottle and let out a content sigh. It wasn't what he imagined from being in Beacon, but, as far as he was concerned it was better.
The question of how to help Blake niggled at the back of his mind. But he couldn't see any way to change her mind. He would just have to work hard on his own redemption.
Roman took a long drag of his cigar. It had been a long day getting the imbeciles of the White Fang to move the Dust. Cinder was angry at their loss and wanted him to get more, protect what they had and move it all out of town to their new hideout in Mountain Glenn.
Talk about being overworked.
At least he worked with someone who was somewhat competent. Blake Belladonna, or Kitty Cat as he called her, had easily taken charge. He wouldn't say she was a good leader, but she had a fire in her that demanded the White Fang follow her orders.
It was far too cult-like for Roman.
They all worked for 'the cause' and didn't care how vague that was. He just hoped he didn't die because of their fanaticism.
I really wish I could've turned Cindy down.
"That last mission was great you guys! Adam, Weiss, you guys worked really well together!" Ruby gave them each a big thumbs up and an even bigger smile. Adam scoffed and Weiss huffed but they couldn't dampen Ruby's spirit.
They're working together better and better each time! And Adam even used one of our codenames this time! We are going to be the best team of the year!
Ruby continued through her 'debrief', as Adam had put it. She had heard of them in comics and cartoons and all but they were harder than they looked. Adam hadn't called her out for doing anything wrong though, so either she was doing it right or he didn't care.
Either way, it worked for her.
Ruby was proud of how the team was coming along. They had started to train together more often. Ruby had come up with codenames for all of their team attacks and other more specific tactics. And it had worked!
Their teamwork was getting better, even with some tension remaining between Weiss and Adam, they were determined to defeat the White Fang.
Ruby smiled at her team as they all prepped for bed. Everything was going to be ok. She could feel it.
A/N: This was a week late. Oops. Life doing it's usual and getting in the way. But I got there in the end. I felt it was an interesting difference to Adam and Blake here. Where Blake felt it was her responsibility to stop the WF, Adam was more willing to call on his friends. And lucky he did, otherwise he might have gone a bit overboard. I did want to get into Weiss' head a little bit more. Of course, she isn't fully over the whole WF thing, but she's working on it. Well, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time! Hopefully on time as well.